Bond set at $5,000 for bus driver charged with OWI



WEST BEND -- A West Bend School District bus driver arrested on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence, after driving students to school Monday morning, March 26th made his first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon.

Two West Bend East High School girls called their mother Monday morning, March 26th to report their bus driver, 50-year-old Terrance Habram, driving erratically.

Habram was charged with OWI combined with prescription drugs, with minors in the vehicle, and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.

Students told officers Habram swerved onto the wrong side of the road, barely missed parked cars, hit curbs and stopped in the middle of an intersection and backed up.

Tuesday afternoon, a judge set a $5,000 cash bond, and said Habram cannot operate a motor vehicle, including commercial vehicles, and must maintain absolute sobriety.

Despite being a bus driver through Johnson Bus Company, Habram has two other OWI convictions. If convicted this time, he faces up to two years and 30 days in confinement.

West Bend East High School Principal Jim Curler said Monday, in his 13 years, he's never heard of anything like this. "If it ends up being true, I'm very disappointed in such a poor choice being made by an adult in our community. I want to thank the students and the parent for handling this so maturely and quickly. I'm glad it turned out the way it did, instead of much worse," Curler said.

FOX6 News visited the home of the bus driver Monday evening, but no one was home.